Topic: Less of What We Don’t Need
-
Facebook Server Farm Powered by “Clean Energy” Will Increase Denmark’s Greenhouse Footprint
Last month, the social-media giant Facebook announced plans to build a new data center near Odense, Denmark. The expansion of server capacity was needed, the company said, to support "richer content" such as live-streaming and virtual reality. The Facebook executive who made a public announcement of the decision (live-streamed, of course), noted that the…
-
Black Snakes on the Move: Pipeline Expansion Out of Control
A Lakota prophecy tells of a mythic Black Snake that will move underground and bring destruction to the Earth. The “seventh sign” in Hopi prophecy involves the ocean turning black and bringing death to many sea-dwelling creatures. It doesn’t take an over-active imagination to make a connection between these images and oil pipelines and spills.…
-
A Kurdish response to climate change
—
by
For 4000 years since the breakdown of the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, almost every major societal collapse has featured five trends: spiralling migration, state collapse, food shortages, epidemic disease and climate change.[1] What makes the present era distinct is that whilst previous collapses have been geographically contained, the globalisation of carbon-intensive industry since the 1800s…
-
Donald Trump’s Energy Nostalgia and the Path to Hell
—
by
Since the '70's, "back to the 1950's" has been the rallying cry of reactionaries. Michael Klare shows us that it is the cornerstone of Trump's proposed energy policies. The 1950's may prove hard to ressurrect however.
-
The Ascendance of Trump Makes Broad-Based Climate Action Essential—and Achievable
On December 5, former vice president Al Gore met with Donald and Ivanka Trump in an effort to convince the president-elect that he should not gut federal policies and agreements dealing with climate change. Three days later, actor Leonardo DiCaprio also paid the Trump duo a visit, urging them to help build a green,…
-
Germany’s Energy Transition: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
—
by
Immerath, 90 km away from the German city of Cologne, has become a ghost town. The local church bells no longer ring and no children are seen in the streets riding their bicycles. Its former residents have even carried off their dead from its cemetery. Expansion of Garzweiler, an open-pit lignite mine, has led to…
-
Is the Oil Industry Dying?
—
by
Talking about “peak oil” can feel very last decade. In fact, the question is still current. Petroleum markets are so glutted and prices are so low that most industry commenters think any worry about future oil supplies is pointless. The glut and price dip, however, are hardly indications of a healthy industry; instead, they are…
-
Indigenous Autonomy in the Age of Extraction
—
by
The 2011 TIPNIS conflict exposed the contradiction between the MAS government’s proclaimed commitment to indigenous rights and the environment, and its aggressive pursuit of an extractivist development model. International media images of Evo Morales in indigenous garb were replaced by more familiar images of indigenous peoples mobilizing to defend their territories against the incursions of a…